Celebrating Tasmania and its seasonal bounty

 

Tasmania is renowned for hosting several outstanding festivals.

Events like Taste of Summer, Festivale and Dark Mofo are all major drawcards.

Less commercial and more connected, ECHO is the East Coast Harvest Odyssey festival, a smaller. more focussed "festival of the senses" that will run from March 13-15 in 2026.

The brainchild of singer and gin-brand owner Ange Boxall, ECHO has grown from small beginnings in 2019 into an event that Boxall describes as being "all about connection".

 


The event launch was held today in Hobart and full details are now available at echofestival.com.au.

ECHO is a festival of storytelling with close connections to First Nations culture, but also indigenous food experiences, hands-on adventures and music.

There is also plenty of wine, with several local producers involved - Spring Vale, Gala Estate, Mayfield Estate and Craigie Knowe among them - as well as Boxall's Spirited Gin brand.

From bush foods and medicine to morning yoga and drinks masterclasses, ECHO showcases live music, art, culture, storytelling and knowledge-sharing. It is a celebration both of harvest and the laid-back East Coast lifestyle.

"Our theme, Layers: Woven in Time, celebrates the people, stories and landscapes that give the East Coast its unique rhythm," says Boxall (below, at the launch).

 

"This year’s early program release features coastal storytelling with surf legend Dustin Hollick, woodworking using rare Hydrowood timbers, a cultural creative space with palawa creative Melissa West, blacksmithing in a historic forge and more.

"The music line-up brings together a powerful mix of emerging voices and established artists from Tasmania and beyond. Across intimate stages and open coastal spaces, musicians will share original sounds rooted in place, story and community. Expect soaring vocals, rhythmic collaborations and atmospheric performances that echo the landscape itself."

The much-loved Native Bounty Feast will also return as the key element of the opening evening.

ECHO, held in Swansea. is supported by the Tasmanian Government through Events Tasmania.

See https://tickets.oztix.com.au/outlet/event/90c6baf5-d569-408a-bc77-91650ed7ff7b

Vivid: Celebrating humanity at a time of peak inhumanity

Vivid Sydney, the southern hemisphere's largest multi-artform festival, has unveiled its program for 2024.

Among the highlights: 40km-long laser beams to be projected from the city's tallest structure, Sydney Tower and 2023 Archibald Prize winner Julia Julia Gutman to transform Sydney Opera House for .Lighting The Sails.

Vivid Fire Kitchen returns in a brand-new space, Budjerah, Mos Def and Air will headline Vivid Music and, bizarrely, there will be an exploration of sex work in Australia's notorious red-light district of Kings Cross.

The run from May 24 to June 15, the festival runs over 23 nights exploring the theme of 'Humanity' through Light, Music, Ideas and Food.

There will be light installations and 3D projections from Circular Quay to The Goods Line; genre-spanning music performances and creative showcases; a Vivid Ideas program and the popular Vivid Food program.

John Graham, Minister for Jobs and Tourism, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Music and the Night-time Economy (hell of a job title John) said: “Vivid Sydney is an important event every year that Sydneysiders and visitors alike have come to love.

"It's not just a light show, it's a celebration of light, music, ideas and food - a program full of rich cultural experiences that resonate with locals and visitors alike.

“Vivid Sydney brings together important parts of Sydney's culture - Light, Music, Ideas and Food. It celebrates what's great and unique about our city, and our state and creates a uniquely Sydney experience. That's why it's been so popular over so many years.

“This year's festival will have a variety of free and cost-effective events on offer to provide many opportunities for people to come together and celebrate."

In 2023 the vent drew over 3.48 million attendees generating more than $206 million in visitor expenditure.

Vivid Sydney festival director Gill Minervini said this year's festival looks at how creativity fuels our interconnected world.

“Humanity is at the core of everything we do [duh], and this year Vivid Sydney is diving deep into what makes us uniquely human,” Minervini said.

“We have curated a diverse program that explores the human spirit, designed to foster connections, spark imagination and showcase the multitude of ways creativity enriches our lives. Everyone is invited to be part of this global event in the world's most beautiful city to connect, create and celebrate.”

Staged across Sydney, Vivid Sydney festival locations and venues include Circular Quay, the Sydney Opera House, The Rocks, State Library of New South Wales, Walsh Bay, Walsh Bay Arts Precinct, Barangaroo, Darling Harbour, University of Technology Sydney, The Goods Line, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and Carriageworks.

Tickets are now on sale. For more info see vividsydney.com.

Just shucking: discover Tasmania's festival of the wild and wacky

Fancy working with a blacksmith/artist to create your own oyster shucking tool? 

Or maybe showing off your fashionable clothing design made from found/recycled materials? 

Tasmania's ECHO festival - the brainchild of country artist Ange Boxall - is a celebration of the eclectic. It is described as "guiding guests on a journey of exploration that encompasses all the senses - taste, smell, sight, sound and touch".

The festival returns for another year in 2024, running over the weekend of March 22-24 on the picturesque east coast of the island state.

The 2024 program brings together chefs, winemakers and producers along with artists, musicians, storytellers and thought leaders. It is a boutique 18+ event.

March 22 is dedicated to a Native Bounty Feast dinner (probably sold out by the time you read this), while Saturday 23rd is the main day and evening. Activities start at 10am and music will continue late into the evening.

BYO camping is available for Friday and Saturday nights, while a shuttle bus will also be available to Swansea town centre on Friday evening and throughout Saturday.

Among the highlights: the chance to work with blacksmith/artist Pete Mattila in a 200-year-old forge.

With the 2024 festival theme being oysters, Mattila will use a venue once used to make horseshoes to allow visitors to craft a shucking blade and then brand it with the ECHO stamp.

The wooden handles will be made from beautiful Tasmanian hardwood timber retrieved from the depths of the Pieman River, donated by Hydrowood. 

There will also be the opportunity to make traditional Aboriginal rope made from stringy bark and cutting grass with proud palawa artist and educator, Trish Hodge. 

This can be used to hang your handmade shucker in pride of place in your kitchen. 

Along with gin and wine masterclasses events will also include Sunday morning yoga, and Trashion on the Field.

ECHO patrons can make their own fashions from found objects, unwanted clothing, and pieces of plastic or rope from the local beach areas. This event is billed as a "a riot of absolute rubbish!" 

For tickets and details of the wide range of eclectic experiences see https://events.humanitix.com/echo-festival-2024

Sydney Opera House adds new creative space

There are more reasons than ever to visit the iconic Sydney Opera House. 

The Opera House will open its new Centre for Creativity on January 4, 2022 - a space that has been purpose-built for hands-on creative experiences inside the building.

The new centre will increase year-round participatory performances, workshops and installations, in line with the Opera House’s commitment to engage new audiences on site, in schools, and in homes across Australia and the world. 

It is one of the final projects in the Opera House’s Decade of Renewal, funded by the NSW Government (who do occasionally get something right). 

“The Centre for Creativity will be a place for everyone to set their creativity free" says Opera House CEO Louise Herron. 

"We will offer programming and experiences based in design, engineering, dance, singing, storytelling and drawing to appeal to people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds - and, very importantly, they will reach people wherever they are." 

The Centre for Creativity’s inaugural program (January-March 2022) is curated by the Sydney Opera House’s Head of Children, Families and Creative Learning, Tamara Harrison and features a mix of free and paid activities that will go on sale to the public from Friday. 

It will open with House Warming (January 4-16) a free, tactile and participatory installation from award-winning Sydney artist Rosie Deacon, filling the space with a forest-like environment made of colourful, recycled materials. 

Adults, children and families will be able to explore, interact and add to the installation, creating a living site-specific work.

Not my scene, but there you go.

The centre comprises a larger room which can host groups of 50-60 for workshops and 80-100 people for seated experiences when at full capacity, and a second room designed for small group work. 

# Image: Daniel Boud